When I came back to the living room I saw Tiffany curled up on the couch with heavy blankets and two cups of something hot on the table. I quickly hopped over and flopped down next to her. Giving her a quick hug I snuggled under the blankets and grabbed a cup of what smelled like hot chocolate. I took a sip before putting it back to cool and cuddling up beside her.

"So Fany-ah what do you want to do while we're stuck here?"

She pouted at me before answering.

"Stuck here? You should be honored that I would even let you stay in my presence." She scoffed before stealing the blankets away and running off.

"Yah! Fany I'm cold, come back here you child!" I ran after her into her bedroom and tackled the moving mountain of fluff onto her bed. Her legs were sticking out from under the pile so I sat on her thighs and tried to wrestle the blankets away but she managed to throw them away from me before flipping me and pinning me to the bed. Great, for the second time within a day I was trapped under this girl. She grinned at me and laughed.

"You're also stuck here now too." She smirked. "So whatcha gonna do?"

Laughing I leaned my head up to rub my nose against hers before laying back down.

"Aww Fany-ah I'm sowwy, pwease let me snuggle with you!" I pouted before giving her my puppy eyes.

She stared at me for a second before letting herself fall on top of me.

"And you call me the child? What was that Tae?"

I pushed her off of me before jumping up to take the blankets and sprinting back to the couch. By the time I turned myself into a human marshmallow Tiffany had come back out with another blanket. I looked up and grinned.

"That was me getting the blankets back."

She just shook her head before sitting back down next to me. I grabbed the remote and started flicking through channels to find something. After five minutes of finding nothing good and hearing the storm move closer and closer Tiffany started playing with my hair, something she does when she gets really nervous and is trying to calm down.

"You okay Fany?" I kept channel surfing as I asked.

I felt her nod her head but she didn't say anything. I sighed and shifted the blankets around. Now instead of being wrapped in individual blankets we were snug under one. A reassurance was about to leave my lips but was drowned out by a deafening crack of thunder. Flashes of white light burst through the nearby window and when it faded, the power went with it. We both shrieked and dived under the blankets and wrapped our arms around eachother. 

It took me a moment to calm down, but Tiffany burst into tears. Seems like her fear of thunder and lightning hasn't gotten any better. As her sobs got more hysterical I hugged her tighter and pulled her into my lap. I pressed my cheek against her shoulder and waited until she calmed slightly. It took a while but eventually her tears had stopped and she was just whimpering in my lap. 

"Let's go to sleep Tiff. We'll see if the storm calms down tomorrow." I tried to convince her to stand up and go to her room, but she shook her head. "Come on."

She shook her head again so I tried to stand up, but as soon I moved she frantically grabbed at me. I relaxed and soon she did too. She had never been this scared before, but I guess lightning never struck so close to her before either.

"Okay we'll sleep here then alright?" I waited for a response.

Slowly she nodded her head, but wouldn't let go of my arm so I started rearranging the blankets with her attached to me. When I was done I let her lay down first so that she was safely sandwiched between the couch and me. I laid down with her and closed my eyes. I could hear her breathing slow and almost drifted off to sleep myself until another, less intense, crash of thunder startled me. Tiffany shot straight up and just sat there. I thought she would lay back down but when she didn't my arm found it's way around her waist and gently pulled her back. I shifted her until her back was flush against my chest and just held her.

"T-tae you d-don't need to..." 

"It's okay." I whispered "I'll hold you until the storm goes away."

Waking up to complete and utter darkness isn't something new to me, but this time there was something different about the experience. I noticed that my breathing took a lot more effort and with each breath I drew in, the scent of strawberries followed it. I tried rolling over but there was some weight on my chest and with a shock I finally realized that Tiffany had rolled on top of me in her sleep. Poor girl must have gotten scared while I slept. I looked over to the window and saw that the rain was still falling and sighed, so much for doing something today. Turning my attention back to the sleeping girl on top of me and smiling, I decided this wasn't that bad either.

I dozed on and off for a while until I felt Tiffany start moving. I pretended to be asleep to see if Tiffany was okay now. Her lips grazed my neck as she sat up and I shivered from the contact. I felt my face burn and hoped that she wouldn't notice. Just let her be okay and then she'll get off and we'll go do something, right? I heard her giggle and relief flooded through me. I almost opened my eyes right then, but she stopped me by caressing my face and laying back down on top of me.

"Thank you for being here." I heard her whisper. 

A reply was forming in my head when she leaned forward and softly placed a kiss on my forehead. All thought processes stopped and Tiffany laid her head back down on my chest. That was just a thank you from a friend I told myself, nothing more. Just calm down Taeyeon. I let the silence extend for a while before decided to act like I just woke up.

"Tiffany?" I mumbled. "Are you alright?"

I felt her squeeze me tighter before nodding her head, nuzzling her cheek into the side of my neck.

"I'm fine now. Thanks Tae." She laughed softly. "This is just like when we were seven remember? Except we were at your house."

I gently rubbed her upper back while thinking back. We were already great friends even back then except I hadn't known about Tiffany's fear of thunder or her coping methods. I was a naive little kid who thought hugs and snuggles would fix anything and everything, but I guess I got lucky with Tiffany. I remember her dad waking me up and asking if Tiffany had told me about her astraphobia and my response of "Wha?".

"Yeah." I mumbled. "Just like old times huh?"